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Last week PSAC\u00a0asked\u00a0the government for\u00a0clarification<\/a>\u00a0on the\u00a0use of the term \u201ccritical\u00a0services\u201d\u00a0and how it relates to exceptions to telework.<\/p>\n In response the government re-issued directives to department heads today\u00a0that included this clarification:<\/p>\n \u201cManagers are to consider on-site work only if the work meets the definition of critical service and working remotely to support it is not feasible.<\/p>\n A\u00a0critical service\u00a0is one that, if disrupted, would result in a high or very high degree of injury to the health, safety, security or economic well-being of Canadians, or to the effective functioning of the Government of Canada. All departments are required to identify their respective critical services and related supporting resources. For more information, please refer to the\u00a0Policy on Government Security<\/a>.<\/p>\n Given the nature of the crisis, your existing list of critical services may not be up to date. If you have not done so already, I invite you to revise it accordingly and to identify redundancy for the highest demand jobs, to account for possible absences or to prevent burnout of staff should the situation persist.<\/p>\n By contrast, an\u00a0essential service\u00a0is used to determine which positions must continue to provide service during strike activity. Essential service agreements are agreed to with the bargaining agents. No current essential service agreements exist for\u00a0the vast majority of\u00a0public service organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n